THE GARDA Síochána Ombudsman Commission (Gsoc) has said it is “disappointed” at the length of time it has taken the Government to act on its request for legislative changes that would allow it deal with complaints against gardaí more speedily.
While draft legislation has been drawn up, issues of concern were first raised in late 2007 with the then minister for justice Brian Lenihan.
A formal report on the current legislative shortcomings was prepared by Gsoc last March and was inherited by current Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern.
Commissioners Conor Brady and Carmel Foley said Gsoc chairman Mr Justice Kevin Haugh shared their disappointment at the pace of reform.
Gsoc has around 1,000 complaints outstanding of alleged criminal wrongdoing on the part of gardaí.
It received a total 4,746 complaints in the past two years and has 44 investigators.
“If we had another Abbeylara or Donegal we would be obliged to drop probably everything else except the most serious investigations and concentrate our resources,” Mr Brady said. “We didn’t envisage the huge volume of criminal cases.”
Ms Foley said if gardaí were more willing to opt for an informal resolution of complaints, cases could be settled quickly. “The guards have been less co-operative with the [informal resolution] system than we had hoped. That is unfortunate as anything settled in this way results in the matter being expunged from the guards’ record. That should be a real incentive,” she said.
Gsoc now wants the power to compel gardaí to participate in informal resolutions. Currently, gardaí can opt for a more lengthy formal investigation.
Gsoc also wants some informal resolutions to operate within the force, overseen, but not run, by Gsoc. The commission wants the power to carry out “pre-investigation inquiries” to assess the veracity of complaints. Those proving groundless could be discontinued.
At present Gsoc must conduct “full-blown” investigations into all complaints deemed admissible. It is proving time consuming and is affecting Gsoc’s ability to deal with complaints quickly.
Ms Foley said Gsoc also wants the power to send more complaints for internal Garda investigation. This could include “pushing and shoving” incidents which are technically assaults by law.
Under the current legislation any potential criminal offence by a Garda member must be investigated by Gsoc.
CONOR LALLY